Petra Kvitova stays on track for third Wimbledon title

LONDON – Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova stayed on track for a third title by beating Serbian qualifier Natalija Stevanovic 6-3, 7-5 on Saturday.

The Czech former world No. 2 has pedigree on grass, but has made it past the third round only once since she claimed her second title at the All England Club in 2014.

The ninth seed needed four attempts to seal the first set as menacing dark clouds hovered over Court Two, with her 225th-ranked opponent slapping a service return long.

At 1-1 in the second set, Stevanovic was left rather agitated when Hawkeye confirmed she had hit an ace. But the umpire ruled she would have to replay the point since the linesman’s call would have prevented Kvitova from attempting to return the ball.

A clearly distracted Stevanovic struggled to forget the incident and ended up being broken after Kvitova’s service return kissed the line.

Although the 28-year-old broke back in the next game, she struggled to cope with Kvitova’s powerful attacking game and dropped her serve again to trail 2-3.

However, Kvitova, who also won the grass-court Major in 2011, saw her serve falter and she allowed Stevanovic to take a 5-4 lead as the heavens opened over south-west London.

Following a two-hour rain break, Kvitova appeared determined to make her greater firepower count, although the final game turned into an almighty tussle of wills.

Stevanovic, who overcame a life-threatening cyst on her liver when she was 21, stretched the Czech to six deuces, three break points. She even won the longest rally of the match, capping off a breathtaking 20-shot exchange with a forehand winner into the corner.

After watching three match points disappear thanks to Stevanovic’s dogged resilience, Kvitova finally triumphed on her fourth try to seal a last-16 showdown with either 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu or Tunisian sixth seed Ons Jabeur.

“It’s been a while since I was in the second week of Wimbledon, so I am very happy,” said the 33-year-old, who is on an eight-match winning streak after earning the grass-court title in Berlin in June.

“I love playing on grass and when my serve is working well I love it even more. I don’t think it was the case today but somehow I found a way, which I’m very happy with.”

Like Kvitova, Daniil Medvedev has also been making up for lost time at Wimbledon as he downed Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to match his best showing at the All England Club by reaching the fourth round on Saturday.

When the 67th-ranked Fucsovics gave Medvedev the runaround in the opening set, with the Russian misfiring his returns time and again, visions of his 2020 Roland Garros first-round victory over the third seed in what was their only previous meeting at a Major must have flashed through his mind.

However, Medvedev trampled on those dreams in the fourth game of the second set, when he broke Fucsovics to love after the Hungarian double faulted to surrender his serve.

Once Medvedev had taken a two sets-to-one lead by banging down an unreturnable serve, Fucsovics needed an injury time out to get his right ankle manipulated and strapped up by the trainer.

He got back on his feet and even earned a break point in the eighth game of the fourth set.

But, once he missed his chance to make it 4-4, his game quickly unravelled, and Medvedev reached the last 16 of a Major for the first time in 2023 by firing down an unreturnable serve.

“It was a very tough match,” said the 27-year-old former US Open champion. “I want to do well here. It’s my worst Grand Slam in terms of results, so I have a big motivation to do well here.”

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain needed almost four hours before prevailing 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5 against Chilean Nicholas Jarry and move into the fourth round.

Reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time in her career was Beatriz Haddad Maia, who blew away Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-2. AFP, REUTERS